jezail

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Persian جزایل (jazâ'îl).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /dʒəˈzʌɪl/, /dʒəˈzeɪl/

Noun

jezail (plural jezails)

1. (now chiefly historical) An Afghan matchlock or flintlock musket fired from a forked rest.
   • 1887, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “A Study in Scarlet”, in Beeton’s Christmas Annual, London; New York, N.Y.: Ward, Lock & Co., part I (Being a reprint from the reminiscences of John H. Watson, M.D., […]), chapter I (Mr. Sherlock Holmes), page 1:

     There I was struck on the shoulder by a Jezail bullet, which shattered the bone and grazed the subclavian artery.

   • 1998, Peter Hopkirk, The Great Game, Folio Society, published 2010, page 9:

     Those deadly, long-barrelled jezails, which once wrought such slaughter among the British redcoats, had as their modern counterparts the heat-seeking Stinger, which proved so lethal against Russian helicopter-gunships.

Alternative forms

• jazail, juzail

Anagrams

• Jaziel

Spanish

Noun

jezail m (plural jezailes)

1. jezail